Marketing companies and others make widespread use of the internet to reach potential customers with electronic messages that are often sent in massive quantities to a targeted audience. One practice that has been used to make an email campaign more effective is to first send test messages to a small portion of the targeted audience, with each test message varied in some respect from the other test messages. By obtaining feedback as to which test messages are opened or answered most frequently, or by obtaining other types of feedback as to the effectiveness of the test messages, the final message can be composed using the test message feedback. The final message is then sent to the great bulk of the targeted audience and incorporates features likely to maximize its effectiveness.
Variables such as the time sent, the phrasing of the subject line, the identity of the address to which the message is sent, the address to which a reply can be sent, and the message content can be different in each group of test messages. For example, if it is determined from the test messages that transmission at noon on a Sunday achieves the best acceptance rate, the final bulk message can be sent to the vast majority of the audience members at noon on a Sunday so that the mail campaign effectiveness is maximized. Similarly, it may be determined through the test messages that messages sent from an entity having a familiar or catchy name are more likely to be opened and/or answered. The final message can make use of the test feedback and make use of the familiar or catchy name in the final message to enhance the chance for a successful result. Likewise, the subject line can be tested using different phrases to test for the most effective way to phrase the subject of the message. Variations in the content of the message can be tested in a similar fashion. All of this test feedback can be used to optimize the desired outcome of the email communication, whether the goal is maximized views, clicks, downloads, forwards, leads, sales, etc.
Although this type of testing program for marketing campaigns has been used for a number of years, the test programs have not been fraught with difficulty. Typically, the content of the message must be retyped for each different test message, even though it may be the same text as for other test messages which may differ only in time, address sent from, subject line phrasing or another variable. This can occupy considerable time on the part of the person setting up and sending the test messages, particularly if the text of the message is lengthy or otherwise requires substantial time to prepare. Thus prior testing programs and the associated difficulties have discouraged extensive use of test cells.
Evaluating the feedback from the test messages has also created difficulty and can require substantial time that detracts from the efficiency of the overall email campaign. It is necessary for the audience members who receive the test messages to be selected randomly in order for the tests to be valid statistically. Past practices have not always assured a statistically valid sample.